--- product_id: 51564166 title: "The Trial: Franz Kafka (Penguin Modern Classics)" price: "€ 27.22" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/51564166-the-trial-franz-kafka-penguin-modern-classics store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # Classic literary masterpiece Dark, satirical black comedy Explores surreal legal labyrinth The Trial: Franz Kafka (Penguin Modern Classics) **Price:** € 27.22 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > ⚖️ Unlock the surreal courtroom drama that defined a genre! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Trial: Franz Kafka (Penguin Modern Classics) - **How much does it cost?** € 27.22 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/51564166-the-trial-franz-kafka-penguin-modern-classics) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Timeless Kafkaesque Classic:** Dive into the origin of 'Kafkaesque'—a must-read for literary connoisseurs. - • **Penguin Modern Classics Quality:** Premium edition ensuring durability and a superior reading experience. - • **Deep Social & Political Commentary:** Unpack themes of authoritarianism, alienation, and the absurdity of bureaucracy. - • **Psychological Thriller Meets Satire:** Experience a gripping blend of absurdity, black comedy, and existential dread. - • **Enduring Popularity & Critical Acclaim:** Ranked top 200 in Political Fiction and Dystopian genres with nearly 2,000 reviews. ## Overview The Trial by Franz Kafka is a Penguin Modern Classics edition of the seminal 20th-century novel that follows Joseph K., an ordinary man caught in a baffling and nightmarish legal process. Blending dark humor, psychological depth, and sharp social critique, this book remains a cornerstone of political fiction and dystopian literature, celebrated for its profound exploration of alienation and absurdity. ## Description A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral. Review: Wonderful - What a truly “bonkers”, absurd novel. I will need to digest it before posting a review that makes any sense at all. I was captivated but confused. I can’t say any more just now. Review: Bizzarre black comedy. - I gave this book 4 stars because I recently noticed the I give nearly everything 5 stars so I'm trying to deflate a bit. This is a pretty enjoyable read, though, and as near to technically perfect as anything I've ever read. So don't let a missing star put you off. I can't actually think of anything that would get 5 stars using my new scoring method. Maybe one of Haruki Murakami's books. It is unlikely that you have never heard of this book before. It's Kafka's masterpiece, the origin of the term "Kafkaesque." Its protagonist is trapped in a bizzarre legal process carried out by a remote and unaccountable court for a crime he is never told the nature of. In many ways there are parallels with the old East German Stasi or the secret courts which try terrorism cases in modern Britain. To call this a book about authoritarianism is, though, to miss the point. The book is essentially a black comedy and a satire which touches on aspects of religion, sexual morality and the general pointlessness of life. It's a book about alienation, first and foremost and contains many passages reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar, Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being, all of which owe a debt to this far superior work of art. My favourite parts are the description of the first hearing, the episode with the artist, the delightful Leni and the unbelievably depressing commentary on the parable of the door keeper. It's ridiculously dark but you find yourself laughing out loud. Brilliant! ## Features - PENGUIN POPULAR CLASSICS - It ensures you get the best usage for a longer period ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 8,956 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 113 in Political Fiction (Books) 161 in Dystopian 302 in Fiction Classics (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.0 out of 5 stars 1,934 Reviews | ## Images ![The Trial: Franz Kafka (Penguin Modern Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91kVls2-3bL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wonderful *by D***S on 21 December 2025* What a truly “bonkers”, absurd novel. I will need to digest it before posting a review that makes any sense at all. I was captivated but confused. I can’t say any more just now. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bizzarre black comedy. *by P***A on 16 May 2018* I gave this book 4 stars because I recently noticed the I give nearly everything 5 stars so I'm trying to deflate a bit. This is a pretty enjoyable read, though, and as near to technically perfect as anything I've ever read. So don't let a missing star put you off. I can't actually think of anything that would get 5 stars using my new scoring method. Maybe one of Haruki Murakami's books. It is unlikely that you have never heard of this book before. It's Kafka's masterpiece, the origin of the term "Kafkaesque." Its protagonist is trapped in a bizzarre legal process carried out by a remote and unaccountable court for a crime he is never told the nature of. In many ways there are parallels with the old East German Stasi or the secret courts which try terrorism cases in modern Britain. To call this a book about authoritarianism is, though, to miss the point. The book is essentially a black comedy and a satire which touches on aspects of religion, sexual morality and the general pointlessness of life. It's a book about alienation, first and foremost and contains many passages reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar, Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being, all of which owe a debt to this far superior work of art. My favourite parts are the description of the first hearing, the episode with the artist, the delightful Leni and the unbelievably depressing commentary on the parable of the door keeper. It's ridiculously dark but you find yourself laughing out loud. Brilliant! ### ⭐⭐⭐ Be prepared for a bit of a slog *by G***H on 10 June 2024* This novel has given us a resonant adjective – ‘Kafkaesque’ - to describe a faceless bureaucracy and justice system that are answerable to no-one. I gave this book a try back in 1972 and I still have my original Penguin copy. Back then I see from my bookmark that I gave up at page 128 of 245. With Kafka’s anniversary upon us, I decided to give it another go and purchased this translation by Idris Parry in 2015. Once again, I found it a difficult read to the point of being unreadable. One problem is that the speech is not broken up into a new paragraph with a change of speaker. Thus all the text is a mixture of speech and reportage is presented in a single massive blocks. This makes it difficult to determine who’s speaking and what is being described. Layout issues aside, this book seems like a first draft which it may well be. The book was edited together by Kafka’s friend, Max Brod, after his death in 1924. Understandably, Brod decided not to change any of the text but compiled the novel from various notebooks. There are many overly long passage which are over elaborate and hopelessly long-winded. With a decent editor, this would have worked as a short story or as a novella. This overlong rambling made me resort to skim reading the final third. But at least I’ve completed it. Interestingly it reads more like an urban ‘Alice in Wonderland’ than a parable of a totalitarian state. The arrest of Josef K on charges never specified seem to be relatively minor as the story is a more a satire on the lawyers and officials with whom he has to deal. It may be that Kafka was writing a dreamlike account of his own life as a banker and insurance agent going through an endless meaningless round of bureaucratic procedures. So if Kafka is an empty hole in your reading of literary fiction, then give it a go. But be prepared for a bit of a slog. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Trial - White Nights - Metamorphosis --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hr/products/51564166-the-trial-franz-kafka-penguin-modern-classics](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/51564166-the-trial-franz-kafka-penguin-modern-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Croatia* *Store origin: HR* *Last updated: 2026-10-04*